Bersatu Will Not Recover with Its Loudest Information Chief

Bersatu will not recover simply by appointing an information chief who speaks the loudest, former officeholder Datuk Razali Idris said.

The role, he argued, is not a license to flood social media or attack everyone publicly. Its responsibilities include explaining party policy, defending Bersatu, uniting its leaders and understanding the public mood.

Razali said that during his own time in the post, he worked with the party leadership, its machinery and Perikatan Nasional allies through elections that produced 31 members of Parliament and 66 state assembly members. But he said that record should not obscure the lessons of recent setbacks.

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Politics that matures builds strength, while reckless politics burns bridges.

“Politics that matures builds strength, while reckless politics burns bridges,” he wrote on Facebook. He criticized what he described as unnecessary statements, saying not every issue needed an answer and not every criticism needed a fight on social media.

He also warned against statements that ignored the feelings of Bersatu leaders and grassroots supporters in the east coast states. Those seeking to become social media heroes, he said, should not allow the party to become the victim.

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Bersatu will recover with the information chief who is wisest at reading the situation, calmest in managing differences and sharpest in shaping strategy.

Razali, who recently resigned as chairman of Bersatu’s Terengganu leadership body but remains a party member, said the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state election results should have been a serious wake-up call. If the party still failed to recognize the warning, he said, the problem might lie with its refusal to look at itself.

He recalled that Bersatu’s Terengganu leadership committee had unanimously proposed replacing the information chief, but that a representative of the party’s supreme leadership council had declined to take the proposal forward. Razali said he was repeating the criticism publicly because remaining silent for too long could also become a mistake.

“Bersatu will recover with the information chief who is wisest at reading the situation, calmest in managing differences and sharpest in shaping strategy,” he said. “We need a party spokesperson, not a spokesperson for anger.”

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We need a party spokesperson, not a spokesperson for anger.